Utilities and Solar

[Hotzcatz]

Some folks put a big roof over their catchement tank to collect the water, otherwise it could be a carport, utility shed or some other building other than the house. Maybe that's where the maid's quarters are? Unless the lot were a really steep hillside, it would probably have to be a fairly sizeable lot to get enough distance for the required heighth difference. Might be more productive to look into a water tower set on the high side of the lot. If there were thirty or forty feet of rise, then the tower would only have to be about fifteen to twenty feet tall. Sixty feet above the point of use would probably give good water pressure even with some line losses. The whole storage tank wouldn't have to be at that raised level, either probably just a couple hundred gallons or so. Five hundred? There would have to be a pump to get the water up the last fifteen or twenty feet to the water tower. That could be a small pump running on solar or wind power, (hydro-ram if you had a running water source) but with a small pump there would need to be a larger tank since it could be drawn down faster than the pump could fill it otherwise.

I don't see it as a solution for very many people, but it might work for one or two. And even if this isn't the specific answer, hopefully, folks will think about the wide variety of options out there before just doing things the way "it is always done" without thinking of why it is done that way.